They eat and drink slowly, in silence. The antipasto is good. The aroma of the simmering sauce is good. The only sounds the clinking of utensils.
“We’ll plan it together, Robby.”
“What’s that?”
“Our father’s wake and funeral.”
“Thanks, El.”
“For what?”
“For saying it that way.”
Eliot looks at him quizzically.
“You said our father. You never said it before.”
“Let’s try to figure this out, Robby. He’s my father and you’re my brother, are you not? Therefore, he’s?”
“Our father.”
Antonio Robinson clears the antipasto plates and sets the table for the main course, while Eliot Conte drains the steaming pasta – as the surge of the preferred duet fills the house. Conte at the stove is now spooning the tuna sauce into the steaming pot of drained pasta. Robinson from behind him is reaching into his pocket. Conte is now mixing the sauce thoroughly through the strands of drained pasta. Robinson, hand still in pocket, is hesitating. He’s glancing at the back of Conte’s head. Conte is still at the stove, back to his brother, when Robinson quickly withdraws it and places it silently alongside Conte’s plate. The missing BlackBerry.
THANKS TO
Christopher Celenza, Director, and his splendid staff at the American Academy in Rome, where I finished the manuscript during two magically productive weeks.
MELVILLE INTERNATIONAL CRIME
Kismet
Jakob Arjouni
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Happy Birthday, Turk!
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More Beer
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One Man, One Murder
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The Craigslist Murders
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Death and the Penguin
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Penguin Lost
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The Case of the General’s Thumb
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Nairobi Heat
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Cut Throat Dog
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Brenner and God
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The Bone Man
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Murder in Memoriam
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A Very Profitable War
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He Died with His Eyes Open
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The Devil’s Home on Leave
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How the Dead Live
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I Was Dora Suarez
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Dead Man Upright
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The Angst-Ridden Executive
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Murder in the Central Committee
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The Buenos Aires Quintet
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Off Side
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Southern Seas
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Tattoo
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Death in Breslau
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The End of the World in Breslau
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The Accidental Pallbearer
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The Accidental Pallbearer Page 16